Almost every skater has a different leg structure in which the skater's legs are bowed in or bowed out, applying different pressures to the inside and outside of their feet. Furthermore it is not unusual for a skater to have one leg that is slightly shorter than the other. Natural toe-in or toe-out foot orientations also differ.
Such variances between skaters frequently makes skating painful and invariably more fatiguing, since mass-produced skates cannot take individual differences into consideration. Skating (in-line roller skating and ice skating) are particularly stressful on a skaters legs and back because the weight of the skater is transferred through the legs and feet to a thin line of contact with the skating surface. This is in contrast to walking and running in which the runner's weight is distributed over more than a thin line contact with the ground. In skating the side to side stress is generally much more concentrated and exacerbated.
One of the principal objects and advantages of this invention is to provide a very precise and easy technique for adjusting skates to provide accurate lateral adjustment to fit the individual desires and leg structure.
A further object and advantage of this invention is to provide a very precise and easy to adjust mechanism for moving the toe and/or heel of the skate boot inward or outward to accommodate for the foot pronation of the skater.
Another object and advantage of this invention is to provide a very precise and easy to adjust mechanism for adjusting the heel height of the skate to accommodate different length legs of the skater.
These and other advantages and objectives of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of this invention.